Champions League: Entertainment expected at Wembley

THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE continues on Wednesday night. Here Adam Goodwin (@AGJournalism) picks out his favourite fancies from in the matches involving English sides.

Liverpool v Sevilla | Wednesday 13th September 2017, 19:45 | BT Sport

A humiliating 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Manchester City on Saturday wasn’t ideal preparation heading into Liverpool’s first Champions League group game in three years. Sadio Mane’s red card was the talking point of the weekend, but he won’t be banned for Wednesday’s game as his suspension is only for domestic competitions.

Their opponents have started the Spanish season positively, winning seven points from their first three games, with Brazilian attacking midfielder Ganso in fine form. And it might not just be the current crop of Man City players punishing Liverpool this week.

Former Citizen wingers Jesus Navas and Nolito have joined Sevilla this summer, and if they’re in half as good a form as some of their ex-teammates were on Saturday, Liverpool could be in trouble.

These sides last met in the Europa League final in 2016, where the Spanish side ran out 3-1 winners. Liverpool dominated the first-half of that game but were punished by Sevilla’s cutting edge – and some dodgy defending by Alberto Moreno.

Los Nervionenses have scored in all of their games in La Liga this campaign, and with Liverpool’s undeniable attacking ability but also questionable defensive performances, I can see goals galore on Merseyside.

Both Teams To Score landed in the Europa League final when these two met last year, and I can see it coming to fruition again. It’s 8/13 with Betfair.

Manchester City’s dismantling of Liverpool on Saturday would’ve been exactly the sort of performance Pep Guardiola would’ve wanted before their first game in Group F.

Gabriel Jesus, Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and Leroy Sane were all in dazzling form against the 10-men of Liverpool, and the Feyenoord defence will have to be on the top of their games to stop the Citizens frontline on Wednesday evening.

Feyenoord won their first Dutch Eredivise in 18 years last season – but they’ll be missing talisman and club legend Dirk Kuyt who retired after their title win. Former Arsenal and Rangers midfielder Giovanni van Bronckhorst is in charge of the Dutch outfit, and he said earlier this week that City can win the Champions League.

Most Aston Villa fans will be familiar with Feyenoord’s captain Karim El Ahmadi, who had a relatively unsuccessful spell in the Midlands under Paul Lambert. Ex-Liverpool ‘keeper Brad Jones is between the sticks for De Stadionclub.

Feyenoord haven’t won a Champions League match since a 1-0 win over Newcastle in 2002 at St James Park. But their home form domestically has been superb and they’re currently unbeaten at De Kuip in 25 games.

Vincent Kompany is still unavailable for City and with Ederson potentially still recovering from his jaw-dropping injury on Saturday, Guardiola’s side could still be vulnerable at the back.

I fancy City to win and Both Teams To Score, which is 19/10 with Bwin.

Arguably the pick of the matches on Wednesday evening, Dortmund will travel to Wembley for the first time since their 2-1 defeat to Bayern Munich in the 2012/13 Champions League final. This is a repeat of a Europa League Round of 16 match last season, a tie that the German side won 5-1 on aggregate.

Tottenham put in an impressive display versus Everton on Saturday, recording a convincing 3-0 win at Goodison Park. Harry Kane predictably scored in the first Premier League game in September as his August goal drought continues.

Dortmund were less convincing at the weekend, failing to score against a Freiburg side who played the majority of the match with 10-men. Despite that game ending 0-0, Dortmund are top of the Bundesliga with four games gone.

The loss of Ousmane Dembele to Barcelona was a big blow for BVB but they have some more than capable replacements. New signings Maximilian Philipp and Andriy Yarmolenko can slot in besides the likes of Mario Gotze, Christian Pulisic and former Man City youngster Jadon Sancho.

I’d fully recommend sticking this match on your TV on Wednesday evening. I expect it to be a clash of two teams full of young, exciting, attacking talent going head-to-head. But rather than backing goals, I’m going to back a goalscorer.

Kane is 17/16 to score anytime with Unibet and with three goals in his last two appearances, I think the Spurs striker will continue his decent run of form at Wembley.